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Zimbabwe military control Harare, deny staging coup

Zimbabwe military control Harare, deny staging coup

(RFI(EN) 11/17/17)

Zimbabwe's military on Wednesday denied it was staging a coup d'état after troops took control of key points of Harare overnight Tuesday. The move was targeting "criminals" close to President Robert Mugabe, the generals said, adding that the situation would return to "normalcy once [their] mission is completed".

It was unclear n Wednesday moring who was behind the military action, RFI's correspondent Ryan Truscott said.

"The catalyst seems to have been the sacking of Vice-President Emmerson Mngangawa last week," he reported. "We've always heard that he was backed by the army but we didn't know how far down the ranks that support went."

In a statement read on the state broadcaster ZBC by Major-General Sibusiso Moyo, the Zimbabwe Defence Force said that the president and his family were safe and sound and their security was guaranteed.